Monday, December 27, 2004

Electioneering, Part 2.

Via comments on A Fistful of Euros: President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan, who barred opposition parties from today's parliamentary "election," isn't happy about the results of the Ukraine vote. According to Karimov, "it is unacceptable to use democracy to take over power," and given that he has labored hard to destroy any semblance of it in his country, he knows whereof he speaks. (And yes, I know what he actually meant by that sentence, but it... gained something in translation.)

Apparently Karimov thinks the "the international community should condemn this. Because otherwise, anywhere [people] lose elections, [they] might use such forces to oppose the results." This from a man who, in response to Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) criticism of Parliamentary elections in 1999, opined, "The OSCE focuses only on establishment of democracy, the protection of human rights and the freedom of the press. I am now questioning these values."